Count the Stars
by jayfeather86
Summary: The Strawhats' latest adventure with Law turns into something much more complicated. Particularly for a certain green-haired swordsman, who finds himself lost in more ways than one. [Zoro/Law. Multichapter.]
1. Chapter 1

"A desert?" Nami repeated, raising an eyebrow. The navigator tosses her head to put her hair behind her shoulders, eyebrows furrowing. "But how? These waters are freezing."

Law shrugged, seemingly unconcerned as he crossed one leg over the other and adjusted the way his sword leaned against his right shoulder. "Don't ask me. But I've been there before, so I do know it's there."

"So we're going to a desert?" Luffy asked excitedly, bouncing down onto the grassy deck with his usual bright grin. The weather was still cold and generally fickle with its choice of rain, snow, or hail, even several days after leaving Punk Hazard, but this didn't seem to bother Luffy any. Few things did, anyway. The rubber man sat down next to Law, smiling with bright black eyes as he leaned in close. "Like Alabasta?"

Law remained unperturbed, a bit irritated by Luffy's lack of regard for personal space but deciding it wasn't worth the trouble to remove him. Upon boarding the Strawhats' ship, he had quickly discovered that Luffy did what Luffy wanted, and there was pretty much no stopping him. Except for when Nami got involved, but that was a different story altogether. "I'm not sure of the climate specifications of the place you're referring to, but I'm guessing it was hot and full of sand," he said rather dryly in response to Luffy's question.

"Yeah, that was about it," Nami said, sighing at the memory of that adventure. She had liked Vivi and sympathized with her troubles, but the desert kingdom had brought a whole host of problems for them. That made her even less enthusiastic about a desert island, but at least it wouldn't be snowing. She looked up at Law, suddenly remembering that she was in the middle of a conversation. "So when will we get there?"

"Yeah, Traffy, when are we gonna get there?!" Luffy asked excitedly, his rubber neck wrapped several times around Law's torso as he grinned like an idiot. Nami had to smile at this; Luffy was this way with everyone, and it was amusing to see Law's reaction to him. He was going to have to get used to it if he was going to stick around.

"…in a few days," was Law's somewhat uncomfortable response, not knowing quite how to react to Luffy's sudden invasion of his personal bubble. He didn't quite know what he'd expected Strawhat to be like, but this certainly wasn't what he'd imagined…

The rest of the crew seemed to be amused by this, standing off to the sides and smiling at their captain's antics. They were all dressed for the weather, and Luffy's open shirt and shorts seemed almost out of place among all their coats and mittens. Almost. This _was _Luffy, after all.

In the days since leaving Punk Hazard, the Strawhats, with the addition of Law, had set sail for Dressrosa with Law's plan for confronting the somewhat mysterious Doflamingo. It had been an interesting few days with Law on board, even though he was quiet and mostly kept to himself, with the exceptions of mealtimes and strategic discussions. Well, if you could call talking to Luffy a strategic discussion. Sometimes he would just wander around the ship, looking around at the Sunny's infrastructure and occasionally asking questions about how this worked and where did this power source come from. Franky was more than happy to show off the Thousand Sunny's formidable capabilities, describing them with great enthusiasm to Law, who listened quietly and gave little discerning reaction to the information.

But as the days went on, Zoro only grew increasingly suspicious. As the others slowly became accustomed to Law's presence on the ship, Zoro resented it. He didn't know what it was about Law that rubbed him the wrong way, but it made him want to snarl at the man if he even came near him or his nakama. Zoro was not a very trusting person by nature, but this was different. There was something about Law that he didn't like.

He knew Law was strong, that he was dangerous, and that he could be ruthless when he wanted to be. But those were all traits that were true of himself as well. That didn't bother him. But what did bother him was something about Law's eyes. They were a stormy grey color, like how the sky was colored just before it rained. But that wasn't the problem. Usually Zoro could look into someone's eyes and be able to tell fairly easily what they were thinking or feeling, a talent that came in handy when you got into as many fights as he did, but with Law it was different. Law's eyes were a mystery to him. He couldn't read into them any more than he could read Poneglyphs.

And it wasn't only this that made Zoro distrust him. He knew Law's reputation, and he didn't like it. He was cruel, sadistic, and more than likely psychopathic. Zoro wasn't stupid. He knew that they were pirates, and there was a cruel sadistic psychopath for at least every average person, but having one _on their ship _and in close proximity was another matter entirely.

Zoro did not take his nakama's safety lightly, and he would cut to pieces any bastard who tried to lay a finger on them. Which was why he had been meaning to go and talk to Law, so he could make a few things clear to this sarcastic asshole who thought he could just walk in and manipulate Luffy.

He snorted softly, realizing he was scowling down at the deck, and looked up, trying to catch up from his moment of spacing out. Luffy had his stretchy neck wrapped around Law, the idiot, and the rubber man looked far too nonchalant around someone who had a reputation for cutting out people's hearts and giving them to the government. Zoro rolled his eyes. That was just great. He hoped he didn't have to save Luffy's ass from falling in the ocean again. He knew how much of an idiot Luffy could be, and it wouldn't be a surprise if he managed to almost drown himself again.

_I could let it slide if Trafalgar fell in_, Zoro thought with a mental snort. Although he was probably too smart for that. Damn.

Zoro wasn't really interested in Trafalgar's harebrained schemes to take down a Yonkou or defeat Doflamingo or whatever. It would only drag their crew into more trouble with him. Zoro rolled his eyes. Didn't Trafalgar have his own crew he could drag into these messes? He'd have to ask the bastard about that when he got a chance.

Several hours later found the Strawhat crew getting ready for bed at an hour when the moon would have been rising, if the thick snow clouds hadn't completely blocked out the sky. The night had brought a drop in temperature as well, and soon it was even colder than during the day, with the absence of the weak sunlight that managed to filter through the heavy snow clouds. Now the sky was a foggy blue-black, the stars obscured by grey clouds.

It was Zoro's watch tonight, so he had kept his coat and gloves on, and he was heading out to the crow's nest once dinner was done, his breath billowing in silvery clouds in front of his face. He shut the door behind him with a solid click of the latch, looking around the darkened ship for any sign of an unfriendly presence.

Seeing nothing, Zoro made his way across the deck towards the mast, the deck creaking slightly under his footsteps. The cold made everything stiff, Zoro reasoned, and Sunny was no exception. The cold night air was mostly still around him, but for the occasional chilly sea breeze that stirred the sails and the rigging, and he let out a soft sigh, savoring the quiet of the night. It wasn't often that anything was quiet on this ship, and Zoro had learned to cherish the few moments that he was able to spend in quiet solitude. He had never been much of a people person, anyway.

The sound of the deck creaking a few feet away made Zoro look up suddenly, on alert for intruders. His gaze immediately locked onto the source of the noise, which was less of a threat than he expected. Law's tall, slender figure was visible near the railing on the starboard side, simply standing and looking out at the sea. He was quiet, his arms folded across his stomach with his nodachi held in one hand like it usually was while he stared out at the black, rippling waters of the sea. He was so still Zoro might not have noticed him if not for the creaking of the floorboards, his long black coat blending with the inky shadows on the deck almost perfectly.

Zoro thought it was odd that Law was out so late, when everyone else had already gone to bed, and he felt a flare of distrustful suspicion in his gut. His eye narrowed, and he decided to question the man. He had a right to know, anyway. This was his and his nakama's ship.

The swordsman strode over to Law, fully intent on interrogating him, and was rather chagrined to find that Law was taller by a good two or three inches. He had to be at least six foot two, maybe three. This bothered Zoro probably more than it should have, and he found himself a little pissed off, both at Law and at himself. Why couldn't _he _be taller? That wasn't fair.

The height difference between them had Zoro so distracted that he even forgot Law was there until the surgeon looked at him expectantly and said, "Lost, are we?" in that politely sarcastic tone of his.

This snapped Zoro out of his thoughts, and he glared at Law. Glared _up, _that was. "No," he snapped, suddenly irritated. He tried to calm himself, though, remembering that he couldn't let this sarcastic asshole get the best of him. He continued in a more calm voice, although just as cold, "I was just wondering what the hell you were doing out here in the middle of the night."

Law had gone back to staring aimlessly out at the sea, which again pissed Zoro off somewhat. "Is that really any of your business?" he asked coolly, seeming completely unperturbed.

Zoro's eyebrow twitched. "It kind of is, since this is my ship," he retorted with more bite than he'd intended. "Why the hell can't you go inside and sleep like a normal goddamn person?"

Law regarded him with a cold stare. "My sleeping quarters have yet to be determined, Roronoa-ya," he said with an edge of ice to his tone. "And unlike you, I don't find fulfillment in spending the majority of my time lying around and snoring like a cow."

Zoro couldn't restrain a snarl at this, and one hand gripped the hilt of his swords. "You should watch what you say, Trafalgar," he growled, glaring. "I'll kick your ass."

Law gave a derisive snort at this, rolling his eyes. "In your dreams, you moss-brained fool," he retorted. Then he sent a chilly stare in Zoro's direction. "I'm not like the cook or anyone else you pretend to fight with. I would watch who I picked fights with if I were you."

For a moment Zoro was shocked into silence. The intensity of that stare caught him off-guard, and it made something uncomfortable twist in his belly. Then he remembered himself and glared right back at Law, staring into those cold, wintery eyes without hesitation. "Wanna go?" he growled in a low voice, deadly serious. "Two can play at that game. Let's see just how well you can use that sword."

In a flash of steel that gleamed for a split second in the moonlight, Law's sword was drawn in an instant, the blade held to Zoro's throat with menacing pressure, his body backed up against the rail. He couldn't look away, the blade against his soft neck cold and deadly sharp, and all he could do was stare with wide eyes into Law's hooded gaze, his eyes glimmering with something akin to malice. It made Zoro want to shiver, as if a winter wind had blown straight down his shirt. "Are you sure you want to challenge me?" Law's voice was low, almost a whisper, but laced with an icy threat that Zoro couldn't mistake.

For a moment Zoro was speechless, stunned that he had been taken by surprise so easily, and too intimidated at that moment to be angry with himself. He opened his mouth to answer but closed it again just as quickly, finding his throat dry and swallowing hard. It was if his mind had gone utterly blank, and all he could do was be lost in the depths of Law's cold, calculating stare, which seemed eerily silver rather than grey beneath the light of the moon.

His trance was broken when Law pressed the blade harder into his soft flesh, pinning the swordsman's lower body against the rail with his hips. "I said, are you sure you want to challenge me?" he repeated, cool yet distinctly dangerous.

A flicker of anger sparked in Zoro at the surety and control in Law's voice, like he was facing some third-class weakling instead of the soon-to-be strongest swordsman in the world. "No," he growled, forcing himself not to spit in Law's face. He shoved forward with his lower body, using his larger body mass to push Law back a little. "Now get off me."

Law did step back and remove his sword from Zoro's throat, but Zoro had a sneaking suspicion it had nothing to do with what he wanted. He smirked as he replaced the long nodachi in its sheath, and Zoro felt a flicker of irritation.

"It would be wise to refrain from ordering me around in the future, Roronoa-ya," he said coolly, that infuriating little smile quirking one corner of his mouth. "Or you might find yourself, or rather parts of you, mysteriously misplaced."

Zoro growled, narrowing his eyes at the surgeon. "Don't push your luck, Trafalgar." Okay, so maybe this guy was a _little_ bit stronger than he'd anticipated, and a _little_ bit more shrewd than he'd like. But that didn't matter. If push came to shove, he wouldn't hesitate to go at it with all he had.

Law chuckled after a moment and pulled his cap down low over his eyes, casting a shadow over his stormy grey gaze. "You're funny," was all he said in a tone of amusement as he took a seat on the grassy deck, crossing his legs and leaning back against the mast.

This pissed Zoro off. He didn't like being laughed at, and this guy was already getting on his nerves. He growled and felt his eyebrow twitch in annoyance, but there wasn't much he could do. He settled on an irritated snort and rolling his eyes as he turned on his heel to go inside, feeling Law's eyes on his back.

Zoro made sure to close the door with a little more force than necessary as he went in, just to make sure Law knew he was pissed. _Fucking smug bastard,_ he mentally grumbled, silently fuming as he made his way to the men's quarters where everyone else was snoring away. _I can't believe I let him fucking get away with that_. If it had been anyone else, he wouldn't have hesitated to put them in their place, he assured himself, and it was only because Law was currently an ally that he restrained himself.

_Yeah, that's why,_ Zoro thought with a mental nod of affirmation as he kicked off his boots and let his green robe drop to the floor after carefully laying down his katana. _Not because he's that strong, because I can't kick his ass _yet. _This dumb alliance thing._

But no matter how many attempts he made to rationalize his actions earlier, Zoro _knew._ Trafalgar Law, he thought as he lay down in his hammock to sleep, was definitely trouble.

Mornings were never a good time for Zoro. First of all, he was most definitely not a morning person, and being woken up by Luffy at five in the morning because the idiot couldn't wait for breakfast grated on one's nerves after a while. _Fucking idiot_, Zoro growled mentally as Luffy's raucous shouts for Sanji to hurry up with breakfast drifted back to the bunk room. He sighed irritably and slung an arm over his eyes, hoping to maybe shut out the light and go back to sleep.

Then he heard Usopp groan from one of the other bunks, his voice even more annoying than usual. "Ugh… morning already?" he complained, his whiny tone making Zoro itch to throw something at him.

Chopper might have made a good projectile, Zoro thought as he heard the little reindeer walk past, yawning, but that required reaching out and grabbing him, which would probably make him scream in terror and potentially bite Zoro's arm, and he wasn't in the mood for another loud, high-pitched noise at the moment. Or having a chunk bitten out of his arm before he even got out of bed.

"I wonder what Sanji's making for breakfast," Chopper wondered out loud as he waited for Usopp, who noisily clambered out of his hammock and proceeded to stretch, also noisily.

"Probably something with meat in it," Usopp commented, and Zoro mentally rolled his eyes. Of course there was going to be meat in it. You couldn't skip meat at a meal with Luffy around.

Eventually the two of them left for the kitchen, and eventually Zoro felt hungry enough to get up and join them, knowing that if he waited too long, he wouldn't get anything. With Luffy around, you always had to be on your toes.

"Late as usual, dumbass marimo," Sanji said with an irritable roll of his eyes as Zoro walked in and took his usual place at the table. "What, did you get lost on your way here?"

"Shut up, shit-cook," Zoro retorted as he started to eat, more out of habit than anything. "I was trying to work up an appetite so I could keep down your shitty food."

Sanji's curly eyebrow twitched angrily, and he kicked Zoro in the back of the head while he was taking a drink of water, causing him to choke and spill water everywhere. "Ungrateful marimo asshole!" he snapped, and Zoro shot him a death glare as he wiped his face with his sleeve.

Everyone else got a laugh out of this, giggling and pointing out Zoro's murderous expression while he contemplated cutting the cook's balls off with Kitetsu just to see how high his voice would get when he screamed. Even Law was wearing his customary smirk, with just a hint of amusement glimmering in his eyes.

_Bastard,_ Zoro thought to himself, rolling his eyes. Trafalgar was definitely too smug for his own damn good. _I should cut his balls off, too. See if his scream matches the cook's._

"Now, now, Cook-ya, I don't think his asshole would be green, too," Law spoke up with an amused smile, and everyone snickered. "He'd be a baboon if it was. But it wouldn't surprise me if the carpet matched the drapes." Luffy choked on sausage and howling laughter, while milk squirted from Usopp's nose, his eyes bugging out as he tried to laugh and swallow at the same time. Everyone else laughed, too

Even Sanji cracked up at this, although all the guys have seen it before in the public baths, and Zoro is indeed green down there, too. "Haha! I think I like you, Trafalgar!" the cook said with a grin, and at that moment Zoro was thinking the exact opposite. "Sometimes I think he _is_ a baboon."

Zoro growled in irritation, feeling an urge to reach for his swords and skewer the both of them. "I'm done," he snapped after a moment, sending a death glare in the direction of Trafalgar the shitty cook. "I'm kicking your ass, dartboard-brow."

Sanji glared right back at him, his swirly eyebrow twitching in annoyance. "Just try it, shitty marimo," he goaded, tapping the toe of his black shoe against the floor. "We'll see who gets their ass kicked."

Eventually Nami ordered them to take it outside, after her cup got broken when one of Zoro's blades glanced off Sanji's shoe and made a wide arc across the table instead. Even with the witch's interference, the fight was just what Zoro needed to let off some steam, his anger giving him the edge he needed to one-up the chef, eventually knocking him on his ass with a sword pointed at his throat.

He grinned. "Looks like I win again, shitty cook," he said, breathing heavily and still feeling the effects of the adrenaline rush.

"What do you mean, 'again'?" Sanji snorted, glaring up at the swordsman seemingly without heed to the blade at his throat, though he is panting as well. "I kicked your ass the last time. Or did I kick you so hard you don't remember now?"

Zoro rolled his eyes. "Damn delusional ero-cook," he said with a huff, sheathing his swords and allowing Sanji to get up. "You're so pathetic you're just imagining things now."

Sanji stood up and swore at him, but Zoro wasn't paying him any mind. He was looking out over the rail at the island they were quickly approaching, which appeared to be nothing more than a big pile of sand with a rickety port town set up at the coast. He rolled his eyes. _Just fucking great._ If this was anything like Alabasta, then it would be constantly dry, hot, and sandy as all hell. Fuck. That meant they'd have to put on those ridiculous desert clothes again, although Zoro's green kaftan would probably serve him well in this climate.

"Oi, shithead, I'm talking to you!" Sanji's voice abruptly broke into his thoughts, and he turned to look at the chef with his usual mixture of disdain and irritation. Sanji rolled his eyes at the marimo's expression. "Nami-san wants everyone to meet down at the docks, so get your ass moving."

"Whatever, shitty cook," Zoro said, snorting. "I'll be there. You can stop nagging me about it."

Sanji's eyebrow twitched in irritation. "I'm supposed to make sure you don't get lost, dumbass," he said, coming over to drag Zoro by the arm in the right direction.

"Hey, I don't need your help, asshole!" But of course, he did, in order to make it the twenty yards or so off the ship and towards the market square, where the others had already gathered and were waiting for the latecomers. Nami snapped at them for being late, typical of her, but it was Law's self-satisfied little smirk that pissed Zoro off the most.

_Asshole,_ he thought irritably, sending a glare in Law's direction as Nami was explaining their plan. He didn't really know why he was pissed at Law; it just seemed convenient to blame him since he was busy being a smug bastard over there.

"…and we'll split into two groups to avoid attracting attention," he heard Nami say, and that was when he started to pay more attention. "One group will have Luffy, Chopper, Franky, Sanji, and I, while the other will have Law, Robin, Zoro, Usopp, and Brook. We're looking for a temple that's supposed to be in the middle of this desert."

She paused to glance around at the circle of her crewmates, her gaze lingering on Luffy, who was uninterestedly picking his nose with his little finger. She just rolled her eyes and moved on. "And that means we can't be horsing around the whole time, got it?"

Everyone gave some sort of affirmation after that and started to split up into their assigned groups, and Zoro was still in shock at his shitty luck. _Are you fucking serious?_ He mentally snarled, pissed now that he would have to spend his time answering to that stuck-up prick.

The group slowly gathered around Zoro, and Law smirked at him, adjusting his sword over his shoulder. "Time to go, Roronoa-ya. Do you need someone to hold your hand so you don't get lost?"

"Fuck you," was Zoro's snarled reply as they headed into town, and he was left to brood over his goddamn shitty luck. One thing was for sure. This week was going to be _hell._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The desert town was, rather predictably, hot and dry. It was also full of people, which only served to piss Zoro off even more. The sandy town by the name of Mori Tan was bustling with people speaking all manner of languages and selling goods from all over the world. Exotic spices from the east, brilliantly dyed fabrics from South Blue, furs from North Blue; you name it, this place probably had it.

Zoro's group was currently standing in the middle of all this while Robin haggled with the vendor of a stall that sold desert clothes for a reasonable price. The man was speaking a language that sounded like gibberish and rodent teeth-clicking to the rest of them, so it was left to the historian to sort out the situation and hopefully get them some clothes.

Zoro huffed irritably, crossing his arms and shifting his weight for probably the eighth time since they'd arrived, getting impatient. For what, he didn't really know. He didn't particularly want to get moving again since it was probably a hundred degrees and the sun was merciless, beating down on them from the cloudless desert sky. Nor did he want to go back to the ship, where it would be stuffy and hot inside as well as out.

So he didn't really know what to do as he stood there and waited in rather uncomfortably close quarters with four other human bodies, his cheeks flushed with heat and impatience. He itched to take his kaftan off, but he knew that would only lead to more pain later in the form of a sunburn. Zoro was already tan, so he didn't burn easily, but the desert sun was merciless, and almost anyone would be fried to a crisp without the right protective clothing.

And that's when _finally_ Robin and the vendor settled on a price, and they were each handed a set of flowy desert clothes, the patterns just as outlandish as Zoro remembered. He sighed as Robin led them to a shady alleyway to change, making a giant hand bloom from the ground to block them from view.

_Like that's going to be any less noticeable_, Zoro thought, rolling his eyes as he slipped on the blue-splotched white cloak and a forest-colored keffiyeh to protect his head from the sun. The others had donned similar garb, Zoro noticed as he glanced around at his nakama, who were all dressed in such colorful and strange prints that they hardly stood out from the crowd. How clever.

"Alright. It's time to get moving," Law said as he adjusted his hood, which had a pattern similar to his furry hat. Zoro let out a little snort. _Always time for fashion, eh, Trafalgar?_ He rather wished he would have said this out loud just to hear the laughs it might have gotten. But then again Law probably would have been pissed off, and as much as Zoro wanted to say he didn't give a fuck, he had to. Another pissed-off Shichibukai was not what any of them needed right now.

He started to lead them through the town, down the dusty streets full of people, and it was fortunate that he knew where they were going because no one else did. "O-oi, Torao! Where are we going, exactly?!" Usopp asked worriedly, trotting up to walk next to Law with an anxious expression, although Law didn't do more than glance at him.

When he gave no response, Robin spoke up as well. "I'm curious as well, Law-san. Where are we going?" Her calm blue eyes stared at the back of Law's head, and he seemed to feel it.

"To tell the truth, I'm not entirely sure," he replied, and Usopp faceplanted in the dirt, his yell of incredulity cut short.

"YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW?!" the sharpshooter exclaimed in anime rage, in unison with Brook.

"I said I'm not sure, not that I didn't know," Law corrected flatly, giving them a dull stare. He turned back to Robin, who was listening with apparent interest. "We're headed for a temple that should supposedly be in the center of this island. That's where there is a man who has an eternal pose leading to Dressrosa, where we'll find Doflamingo."

"I see," the archaeologist said with a nod, her expression thoughtful. Her blue eyes met Law's shadowed grey ones as she thought of another question. "How will we know we're going the right way?"

"I have a compass," Law said in explanation, and he continued before Usopp could freak out. "A compass specific to this island from my earlier travels here." This caused the sniper to relax slightly, breathing a sigh of relief.

_A compass?_ Zoro raised an eyebrow in skepticism. How was a compass going to help them? What they needed was a map. He could memorize the map easily and get to this weird temple before anyone else. But of course this harebrained idiot didn't think of bringing a map. Zoro rolled his eyes. _What an idiot. He'll probably end up getting us lost._

"That's a dumb idea." Zoro decided to speak his mind. He wasn't scared of some skinny creep with a sword, even if his bounty was four hundred -forty million beli! He looked directly at Law, who had directed a stare at him that asked for an explanation. "Why the hell didn't you just bring a map or something?" The silence that followed made him slightly uncomfortable, but he ignored it.

"For a map to be even remotely accurate, it must have some sort of geographic landmarks, correct, Roronoa?" Law said in a dry, unimpressed tone that made a flicker of irritation spark in Zoro's stomach.

"Yeah, of course," Zoro said, raising an eyebrow and trying not to seem annoyed. He snorted. "Any idiot would know that." Well, he tried.

Law did not seem perturbed, his expression unchanging as he continued. "Then I'm also going to assume that any idiot would know a desert tends to be mostly empty, save for sand and the occasional canyon," he continued dryly, and Zoro was getting the feeling he was being mocked. Which only served to piss him off even further. "Therefore, a map of a desert would be rather useless, don't you agree?"

Zoro stubbornly blamed his suddenly burning cheeks on the heat. He hadn't thought of that. "Well, so what?" he snapped in an attempt to salvage some of his dignity. "You still could have had more than this in mind when you dragged us out here."

Law glared at him, which was rather unsettling given that his eyes were so odd-looking. Like the gaze of a hawk, Zoro thought, and he didn't know whether to cringe or laugh at those memories. "And I suppose you have a better plan?" he inquired acidly. "Please, let's hear _your_ plan to find us an eternal pose to Dressrosa."

Now Zoro was stuck. "I don't have one," he was forced to admit, looking away with his cheeks burning in humiliation. He glared at the ground as they kept walking, hoping that he could grit his way through the horribly awkward silence that followed.

"That's what I thought," Law said coolly, and he turned brusquely away from Zoro to continue leading the pack.

"That was kind of a dumb idea, Zoro," Usopp commented, snickering, in hopes of lightening the tension of the mood. "I mean, a map of a desert? There's nothing to map!"

Zoro sent a death glare in his direction, and the sniper let out a terrified little 'eep!' and darted over to hide behind Robin, who merely chuckled at the actions of the two like they were playful schoolchildren. "There will be nothing to map of your body, either, if you don't shut up," the swordsman threatened, one hand already on his sword hilt.

"N-no thanks!" Usopp said, quickly shaking his head with wide eyes. "The great Captain Usopp is perfectly fine with his body parts intact!" His knees were knocking ridiculously all throughout his lies, and that only made it even more ridiculous.

Zoro rolled his eyes and snorted. "Then keep your trap shut, Longnose," he said gruffly, but he was ignored as they reached the edge of the city, and it was like coming to the edge of the world.

Even Zoro was awed by the vastness of the desert they now faced, a sea of blowing red sand that stretched as far as the eye could see in all three directions outward from the city. It was nothing but red sand no matter where he looked, cresting in dunes and ridges at the whim of the capricious desert winds. Hot winds like those of a furnace blew in from the dry, empty expanse of land, and the sand carried with it stung Zoro's eyes. Heat rippled the air in the distance, making it difficult to discern the dunes of sand as they blurred together in a murky puddle of sand and sun.

"We're not going out there on _foot_, are we?" Usopp asked nervously, glancing at Law with part of his robe held over his face to protect from the blowing sand. He had every reason to be nervous; there was a lot that could go wrong here.

Everyone was relieved when Law said, "No." He glanced behind them, where a man was approaching with two camels led behind him. "We're taking those." Usopp let out an audible sigh of relief as the animals were led to them, and the man handed the reins to Law with a nod.

"That's good," the sharpshooter said with a nervous laugh, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "It would have been pretty much suicide to go out there on foot."

Law didn't respond to this, which made the silence slightly uncomfortable but not unusual. Things were often left unsaid or conversations unfinished with Law around. He wasn't one to say more than he had to, although he had a tongue sharper than his sword at times. "Two of you on each camel, and I'll lead," he said finally, with the somewhat disinterested confidence of one who is used to giving orders.

Due to Brook's repeated attempts to ask to see Robin's panties, they could not be seated on the same camel together, as they found out fifteen minutes into their journey when Robin finally got annoyed and used her abilities to 'clutch' the skeleton's spine, causing him to howl about how his bones were delicate. Long story short, Zoro ended up sitting in front of Robin on one camel, while Usopp and Brook cowered in fear on the other. Law led the way with a somewhat irritated look on his face, although he never even said a word throughout the whole thing.

This struck Zoro as odd, even for him. Usually Law would make some kind of sarcastic-sounding remark during one of the Strawhat squabbles, typically containing a very un-sarcastic threat, but he had been silent throughout the whole exchange. Zoro's eyebrows knitted in thought as he wondered what could be making Law act so strangely. Or maybe he was just being moody.

Zoro gave a mental snort and roll of his eyes at this thought. He knew that moodiness all too well thanks to the cook and his mood swings, which seemed to be about as consistent as the weather on the Grand Line. As a result the curly-browed bastard was as temperamental as an angry hen, with the exception of the two women on board, of course. With them he was always ready to throw himself in the dirt, grovel and beg if necessary, to please the fancy of either one of them. This time Zoro really did roll his eyes. _What an idiot, _he thought, annoyed just at the thought.

The swordsman's gaze then moved to Law, leading the two camels on foot as they trekked across the desert, hot wind gusting across their faces and stinging their skin with sand. It had to be tiring, just walking through the shifting sands like that, especially when keeping up with the camels, however slow and plodding they seemed. It made Zoro feel some strange tightening in his stomach, and he frowned. No, of course he wasn't _worried _about the bastard. That was just stupid.

Law was strong, however much he hated to admit it, and he could handle himself in whatever situation was presented. He was a Shichibukai. Of course he could. The government certainly didn't make him a warlord for nothing. Plus, Zoro had seen him fight. With his sword and powers like that, he was practically unbeatable, as long as he was careful.

Another reason why Zoro wanted to fight him. A little grin slid onto his face at the thought. He wanted to make that mask of his crack, wipe that damn smirk off his face. Trafalgar was too damn confident for his own good, anyway, and Zoro thought he ought to take him down a notch or two. Show him that he wasn't as intimidating and powerful as he made himself out to be. He was just like that damn two-bit chef who pissed Zoro off just as much, and he hoped to find time to kick both their asses one day.

Zoro's vengeful thoughts of proving himself the superior swordsman were interrupted by a particularly powerful gust of wind roaring in his ears, sand stinging his eyes as he closed them tightly, gritting his teeth and turning his head to protect himself from the onslaught. Even the camels seemed to be put off, balking and slowing down in the face of the wind shrieking its wrath around them.

A low rumbling soon joined the howling wind, and this immediately made Zoro wary. _What the hell is going on?_ He wondered as he reached for his swords out of habit, his fingers wrapping around Wado Ichimonji's hilt. His mind was alert for enemies, but who could possibly be out in the middle of the desert waiting to ambush them? In the middle of a sandstorm, no less.

But any thoughts of enemies with old scores to settle were quickly tossed to the wind as the ground suddenly exploded beneath their feet, and Zoro was momentarily stunned. He heard the camel's terrified braying as the creature was thrown back by the force, causing both its riders to tumble to the ground with an ungraceful _thump._ Zoro coughed as sand sprayed in his face from the force of his own landing, somehow hearing Robin's surprised 'oof!' as she hit the sand a few feet from him.

"What the hell is going on?!" he shouted into the wind, to anyone who might be able to hear him. "Trafalgar! Usopp!" An earsplitting roar was his answer, and the noise was so intense that it Zoro could feel it deep in his chest, his eyes nearly crossing, and his first thought was of what the hell could possibly make that noise.

With one hand holding part of his sleeve over his mouth and nose, Zoro dragged himself to his feet, looking around through squinted eyes to see what was going on. In front of him he could see a vague shadow moving almost a like a snake, large, but striking too erratically. He charged forward without really caring, hoping it hadn't eaten Usopp or flattened Robin by now. To his surprise, the howling winds around him faded as he went forward, and he gratefully took a breath of fresh air, even more grateful not to be coughing up dust and dirt like he had pneumonia.

But of course Zoro's good luck never lasted very long. An earsplitting shriek was all the warning he had, just before a long, sticky barbed tongue as thick as a tree trunk slammed into the sand where he had been standing only moments before. With the air now clear, Zoro stared at the disgusting thing with wide eyes, watching saliva and venom drip from the curved barbs as long as his arm.

"What the hell is that?!" Zoro exclaimed in a mixture of surprise and disgust, his voice going up an octave in sheer shock as he watched the slimy pink appendage withdrawn into the mouth of a giant worm with no eyes but a circular mouth completely lined with backwards-curving teeth. The worm must have been almost as large as a giant, with a horrible shriek that makes Zoro want to cover his ears.

"That's what we want to know!" Usopp shrieked in terror as he ran around like a chicken with its head cut off, frantically looking for somewhere to hide in the open desert.

"It's a giant sand worm!" Law called to them, glancing at Zoro with his sword already unsheathed. "They're common in the desert where people don't have the technology to kill them off, mostly in places like this!"

"Great!" Zoro shouted, rolling his eyes. "So how do we kill it?!" He didn't really care what this damn thing was or what it ate for breakfast; he just wanted it dead so they could get out of here!

"How do you think?!" Law asked, giving him an unimpressed look.

Zoro rolled his eyes as he unsheathed his swords, placing Wado in his mouth and relaxing into a battle stance. "Just leave this to me!" He crouched and crossed his arms so his swords were level by his sides, building power in his strike.

Meanwhile, the worm shrieked and snarled, its gigantic tongue shooting out from the black hole of its face to smash into the sand in hopes of snaring a meal in the form of one of the humans scrambling around in the sand. Usopp and Brook ran around in circles screaming that they didn't want to die, while Robin tried to make herself useful by distracting the thing with her powers.

"Gigantesco Mano!" she called out with her arms crossed in the shape of an X, and a massive pair of legs bloomed from the ground, kicking at the worm's body with feet the size of small boats. But this only served to make the monster angrier, as shown by its furious scream and flexing of the curved teeth inside its mouth.

Robin cried out in pain when the sand worm sank its teeth into one of her giant feet, forcing her to let them disappear in a bloom of petals. It started shooting barbs from its tongue that were probably a foot long, and that was when Zoro decided enough was enough.

He focused and narrowed his eyes. "Nanajuuni-" A flying leap into the air put him in the perfect range to attack, and Zoro unleashed all the slicing power of his attack. "-Pondo Hou!" The worm shrieked as the air sliced through its dry, boneless flesh, cutting it into two pieces and killing it instantly.

Zoro smirked as he landed in a crouch, taking the white sword from his mouth and sheathing it as he stood before doing the same with his other two swords as the giant worm's body fell to the sand with an earth-shaking_ thud_. He took a moment to appreciate his work before glancing towards the other four in his group. _Huh? _He tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Hey, I already killed it!" he called to them, gesturing with one arm to the giant worm's corpse. "It's totally fine now!"

So why was Usopp still screaming and running? Brook was following him, and even Robin took one look at something beyond Zoro with wide eyes before she turned and ran as well. Zoro frowned and raised an eyebrow. What the hell was their problem? He already killed the damn thing! "Hey, guys, where the hell are you going?!"

Irritated, he turned around to see what the big deal was, and his eyes widened as he was faced with an incoming wall of sand as the eye of the massive sandstorm moved away from them. How he hadn't heard the roar of the wind sooner, he didn't know, but Zoro did know he had to get away from that thing _right fucking now._

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" Zoro hissed as he turned and ran in the other direction, hating the way the sand slowed his steps as his feet sank in a bit. The wind roared in his ears, and he knew it was futile but he kept running anyway in hopes of that maybe he could just go a little farther, a little faster...

Zoro knew it was over when a dip in the sand caught his left foot and sent him sprawling onto his stomach. There was no time to get up and run before the storm was upon him, darkening the sky and turning the world around him into a raging tan blur of dust and dirt and sand, stinging his eyes and throat. _Damn it... just my luck..._ All he could do was lie there with eyes tightly shut and his sleeve pressed over his mouth and nose in an attempt to filter the choking sand out of the air he was breathing. The roaring in his ears soon became nothing but a distant buzzing as he started to get dizzy, his breaths coming in short, labored gasps through the fabric over his mouth and nose. Zoro resisted the urge to open his eyes as the darkness swirled behind his eyelids, his muscles tensing and lungs burning as oxygen dwindled.

Zoro had only enough sense left in his half-conscious state to reach down and grip his swords tightly to make sure they weren't lost in the storm before he was swallowed up by darkness, unable to resist it any longer.

~oOo~

Eventually the sandstorm passed, leaving the unconscious swordsman facedown in the red sand of the desert, harsh and unforgiving. A bird soared overhead, its sharp eyes spotting the shape collapsed on the ground. It crowed to the pale blue sky, _Lost. _The sound echoed back in the emptiness, and the bird crowed again. _Lost_, it called to the wind beneath its wings.

Lost was the little human far below.

Lost, indeed.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The feeling of sand scratching his throat rather unpleasantly dragged Zoro into consciousness, and he coughed hoarsely, his eyes watering as the sand stung his nose and throat. He forced himself to sit up in order to get his face out of the sand, coughing and hacking uncontrollably for a few minutes until it felt like most of the dust and dirt was out of his lungs. In these few minutes his mind had time to reorganize itself, getting his bearings and blinking his dry, irritated eyes to look around the dark, cold expanse of nothingness around him.

Zoro blinked, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hand to get the sand out of them. He was confused for a moment before he realized it was nighttime and that was why it was dark and cold. _Dammit... How long have I been out?_ he wondered, looking around for any sign of his nakama and sighing when he found none. He had seen Robin and Usopp and Brook running away from the sandstorm, and he could only wonder where they were now.

But that left someone still unaccounted for, Zoro realized after a moment, and then he remembered. _Where the hell is Trafalgar?_ He could be anywhere, Zoro reasoned, since he hadn't been seen since the incident with the sand worm, and that left a lot of room for shit to happen.

Zoro sighed. That left him on his own for now. Not that he minded it, since it meant he wouldn't have to listen to Usopp's blathering and Trafalgar's shitty sarcastic remarks. Shaking the sand out of his clothes, he stretched and stood up, a little irked to find his muscles stiff and achy, particularly in his back and left shoulder, which he rolled in its socket to loosen it up but only succeeded in making it twinge painfully. Zoro swore quietly, irritated now that he was in the middle of nowhere and sore from doing pretty much nothing.

But that didn't really matter much in the long run, so Zoro shrugged it off and decided to head to the right, since that direction looked the most promising. His sword sheaths clacked together softly as he walked, and Zoro was surprised to find that it bothered him. His head ached and his throat was dry as the sand all around him, the ache only worsening with each jarring impact of his boots against the ground.

He stopped for a moment to let the throbbing in his head subside, closing his eyes and listening to his own raspy breathing. His tongue darted out to run across his dry lips, and he wished at that moment that he had some sake, or at least some water. All of their supplies had been on the two camels, and they were long gone in the wake of the storm and the sand worm's attack.

_Great_, Zoro thought with a roll of his eyes. He was feeling rather irritable in light of recent events, and the headache wasn't helping any.

In the midst of his internal grumbling, Zoro felt a sudden sharp jab in his side, and he whirled to face his attacker, trying not to stumble dizzily with one hand ready to draw his swords. No one was going to sneak up on him, not even in the middle of the desert at night!

"Relax," Law's voice said, slightly hoarse and somewhat annoyed, and Zoro was stunned into silence for a moment, eyes wide with the surprise of meeting another human being. And one he knew, at that. Law's grey eyes seemed to shine silver in the moonlight from beneath his hood, and Zoro nodded dumbly as he released his grip on Kitetsu's hilt. "I'm not going to kill you," Law told him, and it would have been something to laugh at under any other circumstances, if Law's voice hadn't been so deadly serious.

For some reason Zoro couldn't think of any words to answer him, so he just nodded slightly and blinked at Law, wondering what the hell they were going to do out in the middle of the desert by themselves.

"We need to find shelter," Law prompted, looking at him and then up at the bright half-moon in the sky. He adjusted the medical bag slung over his shoulder and gestured for Zoro to follow him. "Night will be our best chance to do that, but be wary."

"Where the hell are we going?" Zoro asked, finally figuring out how to make his brain function again as he trudged through the sand next to Law.

"Anywhere we can find," was Law's ready reply, and for once he didn't retort with some sarcastic remark insulting Zoro's hair or his intelligence.

Zoro found that strange, and he gave Law an odd look. "You alright, Trafalgar?" he asked after a moment, or tried to, anyway. His tongue felt thick and floppy, and his words came out slurred, almost unintelligible.

Law rolled his eyes. "I'm fine, but you're obviously not." He rummaged in his medical bag for a moment before pulling out a canteen of water and handing it to Zoro, who took it without second thoughts.

He pulled the cap off and drank deeply, feeling the cool liquid soothe his parched throat and dry mouth. Almost immediately the throbbing in his head started to lessen, and that was a relief in itself. "Thanks," he said after a moment, wiping his mouth and handing the canteen back to Law.

"Next time don't drink like a horse," Law commented with a sigh as he tucked what little remained of the water back into his medical bag. "We don't have a whole lot to spare."

This time it was Zoro's turn to roll his eyes. "We're not gonna die or anything," he said unconcernedly.

Law was not impressed. "Says the guy who can barely handle Cook-ya in a fight," he said dryly, though a smirk twitched at the corners of his mouth. He knew something like that was guaranteed to piss Zoro off.

"Hey! Don't compare me to that dumbass!" he snapped, predictably outraged, and Law's amused smirk only served to infuriate him further. "I can kick his ass any time I want to!" It was a knee-jerk reaction to get pissed off whenever Sanji was mentioned, and Zoro sort of regretted it after he was finished, his head throbbing once more.

"Save your energy, Roronoa-ya," the surgeon told him in an amused tone of voice, and Zoro glared at him. "We still have a long way to go."

"Yeah, that's just my luck," Zoro muttered, rolling his eyes. Of course he would get stuck with this prick in the middle of nowhere. And it really did feel like nowhere, with nothing but stretches of red sand in all directions as far as the eye could see. He sighed. It was going to be a hell of a long journey.

~oOo~

The next few hours could have been an eternity for all Law knew. Even in the cold of the desert night, he found himself sweating and hot, his throat so dry he could barely swallow. His legs were tired and achy from the endless walking and the sand sinking beneath his feet, and his hands were trembling for some reason he didn't know. His whole body trembled, and despite this he was cold, sweating and cold at the same time.

It was strange to his feverish mind that his whole body was shaking, and it took a moment in the haze of his mind for him to remember something. _Shivering,_ he realized dimly. _I'm cold._ No, you're not, another voice in the back of his mind told him, the part of him that could feel the sweat sticking his shirt to his back and dampening his brow.

His whole right side burned with pain; the skin felt hot and inflamed, and he wanted so badly to let the chilly night breeze cool his burning skin, although he knew that wasn't an option with Zoro right next to him. He already knew there was poison in the wound, which he had received almost at the very end of the fight with the sand worm, shards of its poison barb still buried in his flesh, but there wasn't much he could do about it right now.

He had tried to get at least the barb out of his side before the storm hit hours earlier, but he'd had only partial success with that, and his hands were trembling too badly now to even try to attempt the precision needed to remove the rest. Law could feel it burning just beneath the skin and it was agony, the poison surely working its way insidiously deeper into him. Law could swear he could feel the black poison crawling in his veins, working its way out from the wound and reaching for his heart with spindly black fingers dripping with death…

A wave of sudden nausea made Law almost want to collapse right then and there, groaning softly and closing his eyes as the feeling swept over him like a tide, making his stomach seize and his chest tighten as he stumbled over his own feet in the sand. A sticky flash of uncomfortable heat then descended on him, and his vision flickered for a moment.

All it took was that moment of darkness for the awful dizziness to overwhelm him, and the next thing he knew, Law was lying on the sand with his cheek pressed into the cool grains, which was a small relief to his heated skin. Darkness was swirling around him, and Law, having no strength to fight it off, wondered simply what was beyond it. With inexplicable calmness, he vaguely thought of what might be waiting for him beyond the shadows that were slowly enveloping him like a fuzzy blanket.

Zoro had been lost in his own thoughts for most of the trek, in a haze of sleepiness and thirst as well as sheer boredom. Law wasn't much of a talker and neither was he, so most of the time was passed in silence, each content with their own thoughts. Or so Zoro had assumed.

He was rather alarmed when Law suddenly collapsed to the ground in a heap, groaning softly, and he had no idea what to do as he knelt beside the shivering surgeon, eyes wide.

"Trafalgar!" He tried shaking the man, slapping him, but none of it worked. "Dammit, wake up!" Zoro let out a frustrated sigh, wracking his brain for what to do now.

He looked at Law's semi-conscious body, seeing how pale his normally caramel-toned skin was and how his bangs were damp with sweat despite the night's cold temperatures. _Fever_, he realized, the word echoing in his mind, and he reached out to put a hand to Law's forehead, unintentionally pushing his hat off.

Zoro was both surprised and not to find the skin feeling hot enough to fry an egg, practically able to feel the heat radiating from him. He sighed. This situation was seeming worse by the minute. But why was Law sick all of a sudden? He was at least as strong as Luffy from what they had seen, and his constitution was most likely on par with Zoro's own.

His gaze darkened as he looked from Law to the half-moon in the sky, which was already starting to sink down towards the horizon, allowing pink dawn light to come from the other direction. "Damn it…" Zoro sighed. This was going to be a pain.

But he didn't have much of a choice in this situation, and he'd rib Law for it later, about being a doctor and letting himself get sick and all that. "Time to go, Trafalgar," he murmured as he leaned down to pick Law up, taking the doctor's pack and slinging it across his front for now. He maneuvered Law onto his back and draped his arms over Zoro's shoulders, holding Law's sword underneath him to support him.

He stood up straight and was surprised at the ease he had in doing so; Law was much lighter than he'd expected. The man didn't feel like he weighed hardly more than a hundred pounds! Which Zoro knew couldn't possibly be true for a man of his stature, but it was still a surprise to find him so easy to lift. Zoro glanced over his shoulder at Law, whose head rested on his shoulder with a slightly pained expression, his dark bangs damp with sweat.

Law's breathing was shallow and labored, and Zoro felt an uncomfortable twinge of worry in his gut. The emotion flickered across his face before he could stop it, although there was no one around to see, and he reached up to gently hold one of the tattooed hands hanging over his shoulders, Law's smaller hand easily slipping into his larger one. It fit perfectly, he noticed absurdly, and he gave the hand a soft squeeze to reassure Law. "It's gonna be fine," he mumbled to no one in particular as he started to walk again, heading in the direction Law had been leading him before. He wasn't talking to Law, of course, since he was unconscious and couldn't hear a word he was saying.

He tried to walk quickly but gently, mindful of the burden he carried on his back and the effect the jarring could have on his already fragile condition. Keeping his steps light was not easy when trekking through the constantly shifting sand of the desert, and soon Zoro's feet and calf muscles were sore from the effort, twingeing painfully whenever he tried to stretch the soreness from them.

Zoro barely realized he was panting loudly after he didn't know how many hours, his back damp with sweat even in the cold of the desert night. His throat had long since become parched again, his tongue feeling thick and sticky in his mouth from lack of moisture. His whole body felt hot and damp with sweat, and the ball of radiating heat on his back didn't help any. He wondered vaguely how Law was doing after all this, wondered if he felt the same scorching heat even though it was dark and cold.

Judging from the heat pouring off Law in waves, Zoro was guessing that he did. The sticky dampness against his right side was beginning to turn to saturation, and he knew they both needed water and rest. Preferably soon.

Seeing the cave up ahead was enough to make him want to collapse with relief, although that wasn't an option for a moment considering he'd probably be asleep before he hit the sand and wake up baking in the sun hours later. Not to mention that Law wouldn't fare too well with that, either. The last few hundred yards uphill to the rocky cave felt like the longest, worse than all the rest of the night's wandering combined. Perhaps it was being so close and yet knowing he couldn't stop yet, or realizing just how exhausted he was and how far he had already dragged himself.

Panting, Zoro wanted to collapse into the cave, and it was only his rigid discipline enforced by his training that kept him from doing so. Instead he slid Law off his back gently and laid him down on the floor, dropping the bag next to him. He spared a glance at Law's unconscious body before pulling off his scratchy desert clothing, unable to stand being so hot anymore.

The coolness of the night air came as a welcome relief, and Zoro sat down with a sigh and leaned his back against the wall of the shallow cave that shaded them. But something wasn't right. Zoro realized with a frown that there was a dark stain on his discarded robe, which was light in coloration. He picked it up and felt that it was wet, soaked in fact, and his hand came away stained with red when he touched it.

Zoro's eyes widened in the dark, and he hissed a curse under his breath. "Shit!" There was only one thing this could mean. Zoro knew he wasn't injured, but it all made sense now. Damn Law and his stubbornness…

He quickly crawled over to where Law lay on the cool sandstone, still feverish and panting softly in his sleep. Now that he had a proper look, he could see the dark stain on Law's robes as well, almost completely soaking his right side. _Damn it… how did I miss that?_ Zoro shook his head and gently pulled the robe open to expose the torn and bloody yellow shirt beneath, wrapped messily around the man's slender torso to act as a makeshift bandage. For a moment Zoro hesitated. Law was a doctor, and he knew what he was doing a lot more than Zoro did. He didn't want to make things worse by messing with the doctor's work.

This wasn't good. Zoro sighed and steeled himself after a moment. It was clear something was very wrong, and Law couldn't exactly help himself right now, even if he was awake. If he didn't do something, Law wouldn't last long in the harsh, unforgiving desert. _You owe me for this, Trafalgar,_ he thought, pausing for a moment before untying the blood-soaked bandage and gently pulling it away from the wound.

Zoro's hands were completely red with blood by the time he got the bandages off; there had been a patch of gauze underneath that suggested Law had tried to fix himself up quickly, but the wound had only recently stopped bleeding, and there was blood everywhere. Looking at the wound itself was even worse, though. It was a ragged puncture about the size of the pad of Zoro's thumb, and the edges were black with some kind of poison. He knew it was poison because of the purplish liquid oozing in oily drops from the wound, and the purplish-black lines spiderwebbing out like thin vines beneath Law's tan skin from the tear in his flesh.

The wound was just below his ribs, Zoro noticed, and he could see the gleam of white bone occasionally when Law's chest moved up and down with his breathing. Zoro sighed and cursed, closing his eyes for a moment. "Shit, Trafalgar. This isn't good." He wasn't a doctor. The most he could do was sew up a cut or wrap some bandages around it. Set a broken bone if he had to.

He looked at Law's pained expression, seeing how tense he was, the sheen of sweat on his skin and the paleness of his normally caramel-colored complexion. Then he looked to the bag of supplies laying nearby. It was Law's, so there had to be some kind of medicine in there. He had to do _something._

If there was one thing Zoro couldn't stand, it was sitting around and waiting when something needed to be done. He grabbed the bag and pulled it over in front of him, the canvas rasping against the dusty sandstone of the cave, and unzipped it. Inside was an array of things, mostly medical supplies, that Zoro didn't recognize or didn't know how to use. There was a canteen of water and a pouch of jerky, which he set aside to eat a bit of later, but not much else.

Zoro sighed and started going through the medical supplies. Scalpels of different sizes, a pair of what looked like tweezers, rubbing alcohol, various vials containing clear liquids, a stethoscope, rolls of bandages, scissors, a needle and thread… The bandages looked like they might be of use, but that was pretty much it.

Thinking for a moment, Zoro remembered that he would need to clean the wound before he could bandage it, so he grabbed the bottle of alcohol and the bandages to get to work. As he unscrewed the cap to the bottle, he hesitated, looking down at Law, whose eyes, he was surprised to see, were open.

That he hadn't expected, but Zoro felt a wave of relief all the same. "Oi, Trafalgar," he tried, intently watching the man for signs of response. "What the hell am I supposed to do here? You're the doctor!"

When he didn't respond, Zoro's eyebrows knitted, and he shook him by the shoulder. "Trafalgar!" he said, louder. "Come on, I need you awake!" But Law's eyes were oddly glassy and unfocused, Zoro noticed, staring off into nothing at something only he could see.

"Trafalgar?" Zoro asked after a moment, snapping his fingers in front of the other's face. "…Law? C'mon…"

Law's eyelids fluttered for a moment, and Zoro's heart with them, but his hopes were dashed when Law only moaned softly and shut his eyes tightly. "No…" he murmured almost incoherently. "No, don't… don't hurt them…! Please…!"

He gave a soft whimper afterwards, and Zoro's eyes were wide with surprise. Who could he be talking about? He must have been dreaming, but about what? Law's distressed whimpers soon started to get more desperate, and he began writhing and thrashing on the ground in his sleep, which made Zoro rather alarmed for his safety.

His physical strength was easily superior to Law's, especially with him in this state, and Zoro gently pinned him down to restrain him, being careful to avoid aggravating the open wound in his side. Law struggled weakly beneath him, kicking uselessly and flexing his wrists in an attempt to free them from Zoro's much stronger grip.

"Not.. not them…" Law pleaded desperately with some nightmare only he could see, his voice weak and faint but all too audible to Zoro's ears in the silence of the desert night. He sounded pained and desperate and.. truly afraid, an emotion Zoro had never seen him exhibit. "Please… my nakama…"

The last word struck a chord in Zoro's heart, and he felt a pang of sudden sympathy. His nakama were the most precious things in the world to him, and he had never made the connection that for Law it must be the same way. Perhaps the bond was even more important to him, as captain of his crew and therefore responsible for all their safety. It was a heavy responsibility to bear, that Zoro knew, and even for someone as strong as Luffy, sometimes it felt like too much.

Once Law had stopped struggling, more likely due to exhaustion than the abatement of a nightmare, Zoro thought, he slowly sat up and released Law's wrists. The man looked even paler than before, his breathing a soft rasp against the silence that surrounded them, and Zoro felt his stomach flip-flop uncomfortably. This wasn't good, wasn't good at all.

Sighing softly to himself, Zoro turned away and rummaged in the pack for a cloth, and upon finding several folded neatly in the corner of the bag, he pulled one out and carefully poured water from the canteen onto it. He used the now-damp cloth to gently wipe the sheen of sweat from Law's face and then rested it on his feverish brow, hoping it would make some small difference in cooling his fever.

Then he set to work bandaging the wound in Law's side as best he could, leaving the gauze looser than he would normally to allow the wound to breathe. He didn't want to make it too loose and allow it to get infected, but it looked like it would be painful to have such pressure on it. Zoro wiped his bloodied hands on his kaftan once he was done, then unscrewed the canteen and took a careful drink of the lukewarm water. It tasted metallic and bitter due to the metal container, but he wasn't about to complain. Water was water, especially in the middle of a desert.

It was quiet. Too quiet, Zoro thought, and the lack of sound made him anxious and restless. It was never like this on Sunny, where there was always the sound of the gentle waves and the creaking of the ship's hull to reassure you that things were as they should be. But it was night, and it was cool, so he reasoned now would be a good time to get some rest.

Zoro took one last glance around the area where their little shelter was before lying down next to Law with a sigh, bunching his scratchy desert robe beneath his head as a pillow. The weak breaths of the man next to him were a small comfort, however dire the situation seemed, and after a moment Zoro scooted closer to him. He was warm, and that was the only reason, Zoro told himself firmly. They both needed the shared body heat to stay alive, and it was necessary that they stay close, although he was secretly grateful that Law was unconscious so the smug bastard wouldn't be able to tease him about it.

As he closed his eyes, Zoro found his hand curling around Law's, feeling the smooth warmth of the other man's skin and the slender, dexterous fingers that were precise and yet still deadly with a sword. His hands were surprisingly soft, as well, but with callouses worn on his fingertips from the pricks of a needle and in the curve of his palm from the hilt of a sword. His own larger, rougher hand fit over it well, he thought, and for reasons he couldn't name his fingers sought Law's pulse point, located on his thin wrist.

The rhythm he felt seemed slow but steady, and Zoro relaxed as best he could and closed his eyes. They had a long journey ahead of them, he knew. Law had been the one to start it, but it seemed that Zoro would have to pick up where he left off. That was okay, though. He was always up for a challenge, and he never lost.


End file.
